Preneed Activities Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2021	Dec. 31, 2020
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	$ 3,625,279
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	912,429
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(45,584)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	4,492,124
Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis		$ 3,569,675
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains		687,303
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses		(88,603)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value		4,168,375
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | US Treasury Securities [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	45,983	44,907
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	1,146	1,566
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(277)	(272)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	46,852	46,201
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | Debt Security, Government, Non-US [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	32,537	30,210
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	40	51
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(8)	(157)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	32,569	30,104
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | Corporate Debt Securities [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	1,139	1,669
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	9	14
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(10)	(8)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,138	1,675
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | Residential Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	1,073	2,438
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	79	131
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(5)	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,147	2,569
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | Asset-backed Securities [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	283	174
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	3	3
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(11)	(5)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	275	172
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | Preferred Stock securities [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	4,881	358
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	570	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	0	(24)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	5,451	334
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member] | US Common Stock Securities [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	1,534,925	1,500,125
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	623,471	503,757
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(31,579)	(54,748)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	2,126,817	1,949,134
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member] | Canada Common Stock Securities [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	48,637	35,016
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	18,449	10,915
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(1,115)	(1,823)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	65,971	44,108
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member] | Other International Common Stock Securities [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	114,125	110,775
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	51,488	39,837
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(2,293)	(1,831)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	163,320	148,781
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member] | Equity Funds [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	807,456	821,406
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	175,706	95,155
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(3,506)	(10,437)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	979,656	906,124
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member] | Fixed Income Funds [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	1,034,053	1,022,409
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	41,466	35,872
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(6,780)	(19,298)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,068,739	1,038,983
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 [Member] | Other Investments [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	187	188
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	2	2
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	0	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	189	190
Reported Value Measurement [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	1,613,049
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	242,896
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(9,649)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,846,296
Reported Value Measurement [Member] | Commingled funds - Fixed inc [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	659,509	657,219
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	35,879	37,474
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(2,229)	(173)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	693,159	694,520
Reported Value Measurement [Member] | Commingled funds - Equity [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	274,669	283,329
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	122,299	97,704
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(21)	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	396,947	381,033
Reported Value Measurement [Member] | Money Market Funds [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	399,566	330,745
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	0	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	0	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	399,566	330,745
Reported Value Measurement [Member] | Private Equity Funds [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	279,305	217,953
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	84,718	68,846
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(7,399)	(10,284)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	356,624	276,515
Reported Value Measurement [Member] | Reported At Net Asset Value [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis		1,489,246
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains		204,024
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses		(10,457)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value		1,682,813
Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	5,238,328	5,058,921
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	1,155,325	891,327
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(55,233)	(99,060)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	$ 6,338,420	$ 5,851,188